Author Topic: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!  (Read 1469 times)

Mark in Texas

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Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« on: December 17, 2021, 09:20:24 AM »
3F outside, 21F inside the greenhouse when my back up heater ran out of fuel from a 25# propane tank.  Grafts were covered best I could, everything has recovered.  Really weird but it looks like my Sharwil has a lot of cauliflowers.  Been a very warm winter.



Citrus are loaded, flowering too.





One hungry, thirsty male cardinal trying to survive.  There are very few birds this year, none of the oak trees dropped acorns which they usually do by the thousands, and we had a grasshopper epidemic that stripped almost everything I had including the bark off small tree branches.

"Warm" blooded exotic game such as blackbuck antelope and axis deer just couldn't survive with a week of no water and food.



Jaboticaba45

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2021, 11:11:14 AM »
Mark,
I'm glad your trees made it through that ordeal! Must have been pretty scary.
I switched over to the rootmaker pots because of you and I have been impressed with the results!

K-Rimes

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2021, 11:55:52 AM »
We've had an unusually warm winter here in CA too but it came on strong this last week and we're into the high 20s and 30s at my house. I haven't had a critical storm like the one you suffered out there in TX since I started the fruit thing but your stories about all the stuff you did to save your collection were inspiring and hope I can do half as much when it counts.

Mark in Texas

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2021, 11:57:16 AM »
Mark,
I'm glad your trees made it through that ordeal! Must have been pretty scary.
I switched over to the rootmaker pots because of you and I have been impressed with the results!

Thanks, it was very scary, trapped for 6 days. No cell, no internet....no communication.   My wife and I ran out of stories to tell each other covered up.   I also slipped on ice, splitting my head open resulting in a concussion, ending up more goofy than I already am for weeks.  Have a friend few miles from me.  He had so many trees down you couldn't see his house from the road.  Had 2" of solid ice in front of the greenhouse door, had to bust it up with a pick ax.  Feel for those folks who lost it during the tornado outbreak. 

Hard to beat the rootmaker system.  One lady living in SoCal treats her conventional pots with MicroKote.   She has a lot of very good looking avocados and citrus trees that are loaded, even Hass.




Mark in Texas

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2021, 12:07:47 PM »
We've had an unusually warm winter here in CA too but it came on strong this last week and we're into the high 20s and 30s at my house. I haven't had a critical storm like the one you suffered out there in TX since I started the fruit thing but your stories about all the stuff you did to save your collection were inspiring and hope I can do half as much when it counts.

Been following ya'll.  Weird weather it is. 

Have a friend with a ranch who had large tropical fruit trees, east Texas.  He prepped by sawing the trunk off right above the graft and covering it with dirt using his tractor.   If push comes to shove you could do the same thing.

This was my Reed (which I did not protect) April 18 pushing new shoots.  I use nothing more than Osmocote, rainwater at times and RootBuilder.   



This is a steal!

https://www.amazon.com/Osmocote-Outdoor-Smart-Release-8-Pound-Fertilizer/dp/B00GTDGMHC/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1IYWIEM3A4J1P&keywords=osmocote+plus+outdoor+and+indoor+smart-release+plant+food&qid=1639760768&sprefix=osmocote%2Caps%2C222&sr=8-5

K-Rimes

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2021, 12:16:13 PM »
Luckily most of my stuff that's in the ground is cold hardy, just a few outliers that I'm pushing with. If I lose those, I won't be too bummed. It's the greenhouse which is important to me but also have a 6kw diesel generator with a 30 gallon tank so even if the power were out for 2 weeks I'd never  run out. I did run a small heater in there on a few really cold nights last year.

ScottR

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2021, 12:30:06 PM »
Wow, Mark, can't believe you made through another cold spell!! Glad to hear your plants in G.H. made it through latest cold spell. Beautiful pic of Cardinal on Fallized tree not even Winter yet hang in there man.

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2021, 01:54:39 AM »
Your photos do not inspire me to move to Texas. I would not be California-ing Texas if I did move there (I would be Alabama-ing Texas, a whole different thing), but I get enough ice and cold in North Alabama.

Poor cardinal. I take it that you do not feed birds or have you just run out of food for them?

Mark in Texas

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2021, 11:47:07 AM »
Hey Scott, mother nature is a bitch, eh?  Have a great 2022.

K-Rimes, that generator is the way to go.  I tried to get a licensed gas plumber to tie into my big propane tank.  Some problem regarding the regulators on both of my heaters.

Your photos do not inspire me to move to Texas. I would not be California-ing Texas if I did move there (I would be Alabama-ing Texas, a whole different thing), but I get enough ice and cold in North Alabama.

Poor cardinal. I take it that you do not feed birds or have you just run out of food for them?

You think this is a common occurrence?  Once in a life time fluke is what it was.

I fed the birds in the back yard and patio.  They need water which no one could supply. 

I found a lot of big holes around the farm suggesting some critters dug in.






Orkine

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2021, 02:19:56 PM »
Hey Mark, this was from earlier in the year or did it happen again?


Mark in Texas

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #10 on: December 24, 2021, 09:52:29 AM »
Hey Mark, this was from earlier in the year or did it happen again?

Feb. 2021

Merry Christmas from Texas.

Dirt Diva

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #11 on: December 24, 2021, 09:39:47 PM »
Our weather has been mild without too much rain in Houston, so sorry you had such a tough ordeal. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!
P J, the DivingTemptress and Dirt Diva

Mark in Texas

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2021, 03:43:28 PM »
Our weather has been mild without too much rain in Houston, so sorry you had such a tough ordeal. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!   Arctic cold front will get us upper teens come Sunday.  Argggggggggggghhhhhh

K-Rimes

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2021, 04:10:24 PM »
Our weather has been mild without too much rain in Houston, so sorry you had such a tough ordeal. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!   Arctic cold front will get us upper teens come Sunday.  Argggggggggggghhhhhh

Ahhhh man, I feel for you. I feel like these wild weather swings will not be century status anymore, but within the next decade again, perhaps all the time. Preparation is key during these troubling climactic times. We have years of no rain in a row, and then an absolute deluge over a few weeks.

fliptop

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2021, 04:19:14 PM »
Goodness gracious. Do you feel better prepared? Good luck and keep us posted. Happy New Year!

Orkine

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #15 on: January 01, 2022, 08:50:37 AM »
Happy New Year Mark, hope 2022 is better than 2021  (including warmer in February :) )

Mark in Texas

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Re: Ice storm Uri recovery. Hopefully never again!
« Reply #16 on: January 02, 2022, 10:18:09 PM »
Happy New Year Mark, hope 2022 is better than 2021  (including warmer in February :) )

Thanks, and a good one to you too.   Arctic cold front brought a low of 21F last night and gusts here of 35 mph!  Propane heater did fine.  Not losing electricity helps!

Davis wireless alarm located about 600' away sitting on a window sill facing the greenhouse kept me up as it squawked for a short time until the heater caught up.  Wind chill this morn was 8.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2022, 10:20:42 PM by Mark in Texas »